Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tianara went successively paler and her steps grew increasingly reluctant as they went along the path. By the time they got to the narrowest part, she had stopped dead, and just stood there, quivering like a nervous horse.

She had thought that it would be easier the second time, that she would have a little less trouble this time.

No.

Her mouth opened a little bit, and she stared at him with a look of helpless, dumb terror. Quavering slightly, her voice took on a pleading note. "I..."

She was sheet white and shaking, and the wind was starting to pick up. They really did have to get off this cliff.

With an enormous act of will, she inched one foot forward. Then she froze again, staring at him. Make it stop, her gaze said. You know what you're doing, I trust you, please make it stop.

She inched another tiny step forward. Then she stopped again.

Her hands reached out and took hold of his, clutching like a final lifeline. Breathing again - she couldn't remember when she had stopped - Tianara locked her dark blue eyes on his. She could trust him, she told herself repeatedly. She could trust him, and she wasn't going to fall.

He wouldn't let her fall.

Her feet shifted slowly forwards, and she took tiny steps. A person walking on eggshells wouldn't have been any more careful than the girl walking on this solid cliff wall.

She felt the temptation to look away from his eyes - just to see how far they'd gotten. But she knew better. If she looked away, even once, she'd freeze entirely and never move again. So she kept her eyes on his and determinedly blanked out any thoughts.

"How much further?" she rasped at last, after what felt like an eternity.

Tianara gave a brief shudder and leaned forward. After a few minutes of silence and slow breathing, during which she gathered herself back together and the colour came back to her face, she gently freed her hands from his. She would have liked to leave them there, but she felt weak as it was.

She had gotten so scared.

The last time, she hadn't had this much of a problem.

Shaking her head, she took a deep breath. "Then let's...let's keep going," she said, glad to find that her voice had only wobbled once. "It isn't much farther, is it? I...really don't like this path."

She wished that she had decided to go swimming instead. It would have been better than going through there. Anything would have been.

Still trembling, she took another slow breath and started walking again.

Tianara gave him a tired smile back, all her anger forgotten after the immense scare. For now, she had let it go.

As they headed down the path, she began risking tiny peeks over towards the drop instead of looking directly at the ground. The path was wide, and she was right up beside the cliff wall. She needed to handle the drop.

It didn't look so bad as they got closer, but she was still glad to reach the forest.

Once they reached the forest paths, Tianara noted Joshua's odd behaviour. "There's no danger either way, if that's what you're worried about," she offered hesitantly, wondering if that was indeed the problem. He didn't seem worried. More...indecisive.

What else could the problem be, though?

Tianara glanced warily up at the cloudy sky. Lifting her head, she took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. It smells like rain." There was no way to know how she knew that it smelled like rain - for someone of her decidedly rainless background, it was strange. She passed it by, however, and gave a slight shrug. "I can't think of anything."

She put her hands into the pockets of the jeans she had borrowed from him, looking a little faraway. "If the storm starts while we're there, are we still going to head back towards the cabin?" she asked. At the same time, she found herself reaching out mentally for Sorry and the younger two, looking for reassurance that they were all right.

There was no feeling of worry, though they were at the very distant edge of her senses. They were all right, whatever they were doing. Calmed, she let it go again, and focused on whatever Joshua would tell her.

Tianara blinked and nodded. "When we get back, I need to go see my brother," she said at last, looking a little ill at ease. It was understandable - her last trip home had resulted in a lot of problems, and with her adoptive brother's death, things might only have gotten worse.

But she had to see Kiro, and she knew her mother wouldn't feel easy in her heart until they'd seen one another again. Reports and mental contact were entirely different things.

Besides, she wanted to see how Addy was, and how Kiro was mending, and there were a million things she wanted to see to. If she could just avoid her brothers, she would be okay.

Intrigued by Joshua's words, she tilted her head. "Like who?" she asked. "I thought you didn't spend very much time in town."

Tianara gave a brief nod, looking a bit concerned. "Okay," she said. "As long as you're sure it will be all right." Her words conveyed her trust - he might have scared her by taking them down the cliff again, but it had been the right decision. Her faith remained unswayed.

She looked over her shoulder. "We'd better get going. The storm looks like it's coming fast," she said, avoiding his question. The truth was, she just wasn't sure. Normally, she would have welcomed his company on the way home, but...well. She didn't think her mother had seen him since before that disastrous episode with her brother. Now, when she had to check on Kiro, see Addy, comfort her mother and deal with some last demons back home - all as quickly as she could - she didn't know if it would be beneficial to have Joshua along.

As much as she wanted him to come.

So she avoided it for now. They could discuss that later.

Tianara wandered behind for a little while, lost in thought. When she realized she was losing Joshua, however, she hurried to catch up. As they entered the city, she felt the wind begin to pick up more. Her dark hair was being tossed around wildly, and she turned towards Joshua nervously.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked, having to pitch her voice more loudly than usual so that he could hear her. "It's getting pretty bad..."

She sped up her stride to stick with him. She didn't want to get lost in the city in the middle of a storm. And she especially didn't want to lose sight of Joshua in said storm.

"Which one first?" she asked, resigned.